ABSTRACT
Brahmin discourse connects menstruation and femaleness with karram and indicates that, as with caste identity, there is a moral dimension to gender identity. Both in religious orientation and in everyday discourse, the Pallars showed deep skepticism toward upper-caste values, characterizing them as hypocritical and permeated by self-interest. Lower-caste discourses of sexuality are ambiguous, multiple, and contradictory—and far more varied than upper-caste discourses. Louis Dumont and Michael Moffatt have argued that an “encompassing” and “consensual” Hindu discourse prevails throughout the subcontinent. Moffat argues that if “untouchables” “replicate” the caste structure by treating their own service castes as lower than themselves, this proves they consensually share the dominant castes’ concern with ritual purity. The historical dimension of changes in “untouchable” consciousness is of great importance in Tamilnadu. “Periyar” 's Anti-Brahmin Movement was extremely influential in politicizing “untouchables” through its call for a castefree society.
